


Always Second Choice

by shhhstiles



Series: Echoes of Us [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Eventual Smut, Gen, Semi Slow Burn, Stydia, a little maleo is implied, a little marrish, a little stalia, sorry not sorry lol, stydia endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 23:04:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5182985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shhhstiles/pseuds/shhhstiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Malia is slowly falling for Theo and at a certain point, she cheats on Stiles by sleeping with him. The betrayal is revealed to Stiles and he immediately breaks up with Malia. He then goes to Lydia for comfort, instead he sees Lydia kissing Parrish outside her front door. Stiles doesn’t talk to the pack for a few days because he is so upset and angry, until Lydia and Parrish confront him. But after all three are arguing amongst each other, somehow, they become friends.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic starts off at the end of 5A, but I removed some of the repercussions that 5x10 caused, that way I wouldn't have to have a whole fic about Lydia being in Eichen. 
> 
> So before you read, take note of the fact that Lydia doesn't end up in Eichen, she just goes to the hospital after a much less fatal injury from Theo. Also, the Sheriff doesn't get injured!

Stiles couldn’t believe that he had been right about Theo all along.

Actually, he could believe it. As much as he wanted to rub it in Scott’s face, right now wasn't exactly the best time.

Scott stood before him in his usual humble and alpha-like stance, which was always both irritating and charming.

It was just the two of them outside the police station, discussing how Theo had played everyone. He had disastrously ripped their pack apart limb for limb. And even though they both knew that this was mostly their fault, they still didn’t understand why they deserved this.

“Stiles, I know what you’re gonna say. I know that things have been really hard. I know we've all been going through a lot these last few weeks, especially you.”

“Yeah, and what about you, Scott?”

Stiles was not in the mood to pity himself right now. Even though he was angry and resentful about this entire situation, and especially the supernatural world in general, he really didn’t want to talk about how miserable he was. He just wanted all of this to go away.

Why couldn’t things go back to the way they were?

Why couldn’t he just be Scott’s trusty sidekick?

Everything was so simple back then. Even though it seemed like it was bad, it really wasn’t.

He'd give anything to go back to that.

“Yeah, we’ve all been through a lot. All us of in different ways. I don’t even know why we try anymore, but we have to keep trying. We have to fix this. All of this.”

He wanted to argue with him, bring a more negative outlook to the situation like he always does, but he obviously agreed whole heartedly. They needed to do something. Theo wasn't going to get away with this. Neither was anyone else. They were going to end this once and for all.


	2. The Break up

Things were getting weird with Malia. And not in the usual innocent and misunderstood kind of way that it usually was with her, but in the dishonest kind of way.

Stiles had lied to her about Donovan, along with everyone else. It was a lie of omission and it had literally eaten him alive.

He didn't tell anyone because he was ashamed. He knew it was wrong.

What frustrated him the most was that it wasn't something that should be brushed to the side, like it wasn't that big of a deal.

They had invested so much time into getting through both of their traumatic experiences together. He'd helped her learn that killing should never be the answer.

Then she just had to go and tell him that she knew about Donavan and didn’t care. It didn't matter to her.

Stiles had taken someone’s life, and even though he knew Malia was trying to be supportive, it still didn’t change how he felt.

He cared about her. She was the first person he had ever had an actual relationship with, but this couldn’t help feeling like a broken record.

Stiles had also lied to her before, about Peter. It was starting to seem like a lot of their relationship was built on this fear that the other one would fine out about something they might react badly to.

The last time they spoke they were in her car, where they about what had happened with Donavon. He figured that if one of them didn't approach the other soon, what they had might not be worth fixing.

He wondered what she was thinking, not only about them, but also about Theo. These thoughts flooded his mind the moment Malia’s face popped up on his phone.

He didn’t know what else to do, so he just gave in and answered.

“Stiles? Where are you? I need to see you— I want to talk.”

He was lying on his bed, sprawled out in his usual exhausted manner. Though, her words seemed to toss him out of his paralysis.

“Malia? What’s wrong?!”

“Look, Stiles. I can’t talk about it over the phone. It’s important, so we need to talk about this in person.”

There was a time when Stiles really looked forward to conversations with Malia on the phone. Phone calls with her used to make his heart flutter in a good way, but right now his heart was fluttering in a different way, a way that he was actually quite familiar with. Utter panic.

“Talk about what, Malia? Where are you? Are you alright?”

He might have sounded collected and charismatic over the phone, but he was barley holding it together.

“I’m at the coyote den. I need to talk to you! Can I come to your place?”

“No-... No, it’s fine, i meant. I’m on my way! I’ll meet you there!”

“How are you going to get here?…”

He completely forgot about his his jeep. 

“I’m leaving right now, Stiles. I’ll meet you at your house. I thought about doing this over the phone, but I think it's better to do it in person. I’ll be there soon.”

And just like that, she hung up.

What the hell was she talking about?

Something she could have told him over the phone, but wanted to do in person?

This was not going to end well.

 

* * *

 

It was dark out and the sheriff wasn't home. He was probably still at the station with Parrish discussing what they were going to do about all of this. The usual.

He looked down at his phone.

10:23

Malia called 10 minutes ago and should be there any second. Beacon Hills wasn’t that big, or at least to Stiles it wasn’t.

He thought about what she was going to say. He thought about how it was going to make him feel and how things would be between them afterwards.

Over the phone, it kind of sounded like she was going to break up with him.

Isn’t that the type of thing people complain about when talking about their exes? How they dishonorably broke up with them over the phone or in a text?

He questioned every possibility, like he always does, until he was interrupted by lights appearing at the end of the street.

He sat still in an effort to stay calm. He still didn’t understand how this was going to go down exactly. Well, he was about to find out.

The car door opened and she stepped out, pushing the door shut slowly. She stood still for a moment, as if she needed to wait and make sure the door was actually closed. Then, their eyes met and he knew instantly that this wouldn't end well.

“Hey,” she said, as she strided towards him. He wanted to get up, but he couldn’t move. He just sat there and looked up at her dumbfounded.

“What’s going on Malia? What couldn't you tell me over the phone?”

It came out angrier than Stiles had wanted and he hoped she didn't notice.

“What? We can’t talk in person? Phone calls are your only form of communication these days?”

Okay. So, she noticed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, you're just making me nervous. Tell me, what is it?”

She was now standing in front of him. Her expression changed from hurt to utter heartache.

“Stiles. I just, I don’t know what's been happening to all of us lately. I don’t understand who’s been doing all of this and why.”

What does she mean? Theo had done all of this.

Did she still not know?

Everyone in the pack had been affected by it. Hell, even Lydia had gotten a blow to the head because of him.

Lydia.

Last Stiles heard she was checking out of the hospital with her mom. He was supposed to be leaving in the next 20 minutes to meet up with her, until he got hung up with this. Whatever this was, it needed to be sorted out now.

“Theo! Theo did all of this. Do you honestly not know what's been happening?”

He now stood up and was decently taller than her, being that he was a few steps above her. He shifted over to the sidewalk where she stood and looked back at her utterly bewildered.

“Wait, what? What are you talking about? What about Theo?” She looked even more upset about this than the whole situation at hand.

What was it with her and Theo? He gets it, she thinks he's attractive and all, but it was like he was her weakness in a sense, her kryptonite, and it was really starting to get on his nerves.

“You know, the fact that Theo lied and manipulated each and every one of us in an effort to steal Scott’s powers. How he practically killed him to do it? And lets not forget that he made Scott believe that I uncontrollably murdered Donovan? And to top it all off he left Lydia in the woods where they found her passed out completely disoriented? This was his plan all along. He used all of us.”

She looked irrefutably broken, like she’d been pierced straight in the gut. She lost balance for a second, but caught herself almost instantly.

“I didn’t know… I had no idea, Stiles. I wouldn’t have done it if I had known!”

She was practically begging him to forgive her for something he didn’t even understand. He wanted to hug her and hold her close and stop her from crying, but he refrained. He was not going to like what he was about to hear.

“Wouldn’t have done what, Malia? What happened?”

“It’s just—I didn’t mean to upset you when I said I didn’t care that you killed Donovan. Hell, I killed half of my family and you still cared about me. But, you were so hurt and everyone had been so hurt, I didn’t know who to turn to. I felt terrible. I didn’t like feeling that way. I wanted it to go away.”

Stiles could see the tears now starting to trickle down her face. They were coming faster now, but she still kept her poise explaining what had happened.

“I was at the coyote den when Theo showed up. He told me I had to go help you guys and that you guys needed me. I insisted that you guys didn’t want my help, especially you and that I was going to leave. I wanted everything to go back to the way it was before, in the woods where life wasn't so complicated. And yeah, maybe I was alone there, but at least I had my instincts. I'd never felt this alone before and I wasn’t thinking. Then he kissed me.”

At her last four words, he stilled. Is this seriously happening? How could Theo kiss her? As much as Stiles wanted to lash out right then and there for her basically cheating, he tried to understand. Theo was trying to turn everyone against each other, this was his plan.

“Malia. I couldn’t hate you for Theo taking advantage of you like that. He’s done things to manipulate all of us. You didn’t mean for it to happen. It's not like you wanted to kiss him.”

He tried stepping towards her but she just stepped backwards, looking at him like there was more. God, please don't let there be more.

“Stiles, we didn’t just kiss.”

He stilled again. This couldn’t be happening.

“What.”

It wasn’t a question. Stiles wasn’t asking her what happened. He didn’t want details. That was all he had to say. What.

More like why. Why?

“Stiles. I’m so sorry. You were just so upset and you had so much going on and so did everyone else. Theo had been there for me this whole time. If I would have known what he had done, I never would have done it!”

“What? And the thought of me didn’t stop you from doing it?!”

Stiles was furious now. Flames must've been scorching out his ears because it sure felt like it. It felt like he was going to explode.

“And what, he was there for you when no one else was? Are you serious?”

He was completely broken. She liked Theo. Theo kissing her meant something and then they had to go further, because it meant something. She wouldn’t have gone that far if it didn’t mean something.

It just had to be Theo.

“Stiles, I never wanted to hurt you.”

She tried walking towards him, but this time it was Stiles who stepped back. There was no way he wanted to talk to her about this ever again, let alone right this second. He was pretty sure he was done. He was done with all of this.

When she asked to come over, Stiles had assumed she was going to break up with him, he didn’t know he'd be the one to do the dumping.

“Malia. I-I can’t talk to you about this. I can’t talk to you at all. I need you to leave.”

He tried holding back his tears as much as he could, but that's pretty much impossible when it comes to him and his emotions.

“Stiles…please, just listen to me. I didn’t come here because I wanted to break up or anything like that. I want your forgiv—”

“I can’t Malia! I can’t forgive you.” He practically yelled those first few words. The other words after came out a little more broken than he'd wanted, but in reality, he didn’t care.

“I need you to leave," he repeated.

She gave him one last apologetic glance, but he just turned around and stormed up the steps inside before either of them could say anything else. He didn’t look back.

Stiles was done.

He was absolutely done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am tasteful and respectful when it comes to Malia. Sorry not sorry if I didn't present her the way some of you may have preferred.  
> I wanted to stay as true to the show as I possibly could, because it's a huge cliché to have Malia come off as this super evil villain. It's also just lot more authentic (and less petty) when I actually have the characters more like themselves.  
> Let me know what you think!


	3. Just— answer

After that mild freak out, Stiles trudged up the stairs and practically broke his door from slamming it so hard, finally making it to his bed.

He really didn’t want to be this upset.

If she had sex with Theo, if Malia had touched him and kissed him and did unspeakable things with him, had she also thought about Stiles while she was doing it?

Had she thought about how much this would hurt him when he found out?

Obviously she hadn't known at the time that Theo was manipulating her, but it's not like she didn't know how much Stiles hated the guy. Wasn’t that good enough for her to not go any further?

Wasn’t the thought of the two of them good enough?

His head was in his hands now, combing frustratingly through his hair, pulling the ends to remind himself he was still awake. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He needed to talk to someone. Someone that could help him think about something else. Anything else.

Lydia.

He found her name searching through the L’s in his phone, looking at her picture for a moment before putting the device up to his ear.

He tried to hold my breath. He didn’t want her to hear the uneasy sound in his voice. At least not over the phone.

After a few rings, it went to voicemail.

“Come on Lydia. Just— _answer_.”

He clicked on her name again, looking at her picture a little longer than the time before, then put it up to his ear once again.

All he heard this time was her voicemail.

“You’ve reached Lydia Martin. I must not be available right now, but if—”

He hung up quickly. God, not now. Why did she have to be ignoring his calls at a time like this?

Stiles had known she was at the hospital earlier. She was supposed to be getting out at 8, but said she might have had to stay a little longer with her mom to figure out paperwork.

He didn’t know what else to do and he didn’t want to talk to anyone but Lydia. So, he grabbed his sweatshirt, put it on and hurried out of his room and out of the house.

Stiles could have just called Scott or even Liam maybe, but he didn’t want to. He just wanted to see Lydia.

He started jogging down the sidewalk, but the jog eventually turned into a sprint. He couldn’t breathe. He was thinking too much and that was the last thing Stiles wanted to do right now. Think.

So he ran faster and faster towards Lydia’s house on the other side of town.


	4. 2nd Choice Vol II

Finally, when he turned onto Lydia’s street, he slowed down and then completely stopped, breathlessly slapping his hands onto his knees.

Even though Stiles was in lacrosse and cross country, running being a semi-regular occurrence, he never seemed to get used it. He was exhausted and wanted to pass out right then and there, but instead he began walking again.

He started to think about what he would say when he saw her.

Was she okay? What will she say when he tells her about Malia?

He didn’t know what he expected to happen when he got there, he just knew that when he saw her it would all fall into place, kind of like it always does with them.

Stiles was getting closer, just a few houses away. Her house wasn't in his sight yet, since it's so far behind the others beside it, but he still couldn’t help embracing the ache that began to dull replaced by the butterflies now swarming in his chest.

Though, when her house was finally in front of him, he felt the ache consume him once again.

There Lydia and Parrish stood with their faces glued together, as if they were the same being.

Stiles took a deep breath and felt his world crash again. Somehow, he felt even more heartbroken then he did earlier in his room. Maybe it was because he was once again someone’s second choice. Maybe because he imagined that when he got here, they would hold each other and insist one another that everything would be okay.

Seeing her so caught up in Parrish’s arms made him wish he had never came at all. So he turned around hurriedly and ran back to his house. This time, he didn’t stop until he was back up in his room.


	5. Stiles? You Home?

Stiles couldn’t figure out how he was going to get all of these thoughts out of his head. He hadn't been this weak since Allison.

He could call Scott. Although, he wasn't really in the mood for apologies, which he knew Scott would be doing endlessly.

Scott had been through so much with what was going on, with Liam and just trying to figure out what they should do about Theo. The last thing he needed right now was to know Stiles was even more miserable than before. Far more miserable.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the front door open and close downstairs.

“Stiles? You home?”

The sheriff.

Stiles couldn’t help himself. He got up so fast that he could barely steady his balance, but he didn’t care. He rushed out of his room and flew down the stairs, the adrenaline practically caused him to skip the entire staircase.

His dad stood in front of the house, looking back at him with a worrisome gaze. He didn’t care about being vulnerable right now there with his dad. The sheriff was the only person Stiles knew that really cared and could actually handle hearing this right now.

Stiles didn’t waste any more time as he sprinted towards him and jumped into his embrace.

Noah didn’t even have to ask what was wrong, he just held him tighter.

Stiles loved his dad so much for this reason exactly. That they could be so comical and sarcastic a majority of the time, but when it came to the serious stuff, they just always understood each other. They were experts at pain. This was a lifestyle they had accustomed to over the years and it was why they cared about each other so much.

“Shhhh...Stiles, it’s gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be okay son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters seem short right now, but trust me, they will get longer! I originally posted this fic as a one-shot, which is why I kind of chopped up these earlier chapters like this! So don't worry, it won't be like this AT ALL later on!


	6. Stiles!??

Stiles woke up the next morning on his bed, lying over the covers with his head at the end of the mattress. He looked around the room before getting up, noticing how peaceful it was.

Suddenly, everything flooded back and he felt his heart jolt back to all of the pain it had been through the night before. Flashes of Malia and Theo touching each other surfaced his thoughts and he shook them away vigorously. Then came the thoughts of Lydia and Parrish holding each other. He threw that one aside with the other and got out of bed.

The end of last night was somewhat of a blur. He remembered his dad holding him for what felt like a decade, but was probably only a few minutes. Then the sheriff brought him to the living room to sit down and talk about what had happened.

Right when he told him about Malia, he looked almost as heartbroken as Stiles did, then he saw a small smirk appear upon his face.

“And you were right, Stiles. You were right. Something was definitely off about him.”

Stiles wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t funny, it was ironic. It was all around fucked up, definitely not funny.

He ignored his dads comment and continued to explain what had happened with Lydia. This time he gave his son a look of desperation. The sheriff looked a little more hurt about this than what had happened with Malia to be completely honest.

“Stiles. Lydia and Parrish have been talking for awhile. And what you saw was most likely the first time anything like that has happened between them. You were definitely at the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

He was pushed out of his thoughts when he looked out the window and noticed that his dads car wasn’t there. Did his dad seriously leave? He didn’t want to talk to anyone else other than him right now, but of course his dad just had to be the sheriff of Beacon Hills. He wanted to call him and argue, but realized he would much rather have a day to himself.

He didn’t really want to wallow around with people watching anyways. He wanted to forget. So, he was going to go down stairs, eat some food and just watch TV until his eyes bled.

Stiles quickly went to the bathroom, curious to see what he looked like and oh god, he looked awful. Utterly and completely awful. He rushed to his closet and tossed off his clothes. He never changed last night and his jeans were really starting to reach the point of a painful kind of uncomfortable. He got into some basketball shorts and a simple white t-shirt.

After his wardrobe change, he made another trip back to the bathroom to brush his teeth, then headed downstairs to eat something that would fill him up.

First he ate, scratch that, inhaled two bowls of Captain Crunch. Then he padded over to the fridge and pulled out some stuff to make a sandwich, prepared two and then went to the pantry to find whatever chips he could. After deciding on Dill Pickle and Doritos, he took himself to the living room with both of his hands full. When he turned on the TV, the first thing that popped on was the news.

Halfway through his second sandwich, Stiles remembered he didn’t have his phone with him. He shoved the rest of it in his mouth and sprinted upstairs to see if he had missed any calls.

He assured himself it was only because he was in a pack. Emergencies tend to be a common occurrence, right?

In reality, he was secretly hoping Lydia would get back to him. As much as Stiles wanted to be angry with her, she didn't do anything wrong and knowing her, she’d probably texted back asking why he'd called.

He found his phone on his dresser and quickly pressed the main button.

What do u know, 3 messages from Lydia.

9:20 am- Hey, I’m sorry I missed your calls last night. My phone was dead and I ended up being caught up at the hospital with my mom later than I thought!

9:45 am- ???

10:32 am- Stiles!?

Okay.

So now Lydia was lying to him. This just keeps getting better and better.


	7. Lazy for Once

He looked at his phone and noticed it was already 2:30 pm.

Lydia’s texts earlier this morning didn’t help Stiles feel any better and he was proud of himself for not responding at all. At this point, he didn't really want to talk to anyone.

It’s not like he was supernatural anyways. If he just ignored all of the creatures in his life, maybe things would get easier. Maybe everything would get easier.

Scott had called him at noon but he didn’t answer him either. He probably should've told him that he didn't want to talk, or at least just that he was safe. He should have also told him about what had happened, but he was tired of talking.

Stiles honestly hadn’t moved since he went and got his phone at 11:00 and he didn’t plan on it, not until school on Monday, well, that’s if he was even going to go. He knew full well all of his friends would have questions and that would mean answering them. Then there was also Malia to worry about.

He decided to bring his focus back to more serious issues, like the fact that he was almost done watching every episode of Archer on Hulu and couldn’t believe it. Lately, he'd never had enough time to actually finish a whole series of a tv show and he was genuinely proud of myself.

Non of them had time to do simple stuff like this anymore.

The funny thing was, was the he actually could. Stiles was very much human. He could just be alone the rest of my life right here. He could probably watch every man made series that existed and would still be better off than going out and busting his ass for this supernatural bullshit.

He decided to go upstairs instead and hopped in the shower. Who knows when he took one last, because he sure didn’t.

Once he was done, he settled deep in the sheets of his bed and to his surprise, fell asleep instantly.


	8. Thou Shalt Do Nothing

7:24 pm

Stiles had slept for over 5 hours. It was without a doubt impressive, but definitely not a record breaker for him. He'd been a lot worse.

After checking the time on his phone, he noticed a decent amount of people trying to get ahold of him.

6 Messages

2 Missed Calls

One missed call and text was from his dad.

5:20 pm - I’m going to be home late. But I'll bring something for us to eat when I'm on my way out, Love you

Typical dad text.

2 texts were from Scott.

3:30 pm - Hey, what’s up, what’s your plan for today? It’s Saturday, so I thought we could do something. Just you and me.

4:00 pm - I don’t know how you’re doing or if there's something wrong, just call me when you get this.

Lastly, there was 1 missed call and 3 texts from Lydia. 

3:50 pm - Stiles, please just text me back so i know you're safe!!

4:21 pm- STILES!??

5:04 pm- I'm going to call you and you'd better answer!!

She left a voicemail.

_Stiles, I don’t know why you aren't answering. Maybe you're just not by your phone or something, but once you get this, I really need you to call me, okay?_

Stiles felt like shit. Why did the simple melody of Lydia's voice always do this to him? He wanted to call her and tell her that he was sorry for not answering, but he couldn't. He didn't want to give in.

He knows he'll just forgive her when he sees her in person. Face to face, the instant she says his name, he'll be a goner.

He also didn’t want to make her feel bad. Rarely (never?) did Stiles ever want Lydia to feel like shit for something that he could have prevented.

He had a plan, and the plan was to do nothing. Stiles was an expert at plans, and this one was by far one of his most difficult and genius plans yet.


	9. Lets Make-up

It was Monday morning and Stiles had already decided that he wasn't going to school. Granted, this was after he'd already taken a shower and gotten ready in an effort continue his education. Although at the last minute, he'd changed his mind.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid his friends for much longer, so he should probably just enjoy wallowing in his misery while he still could.

Malia hadn’t tried to get ahold of him at all since the fight (break-up?) and he was relieved. She was the main reason Stiles didn't want to go to school.

Seeing her would be hard and would only remind him of what she had done with Theo. It's not like he hadn’t reminded himself countless times these last few days anyways.

Besides, the sheriff already left for work and said it would be okay if he didn’t go. He knew his son's grades were fine, despite the regular interruptions him and his friends faced on a daily basis. He also knew that Stiles had a really good excuse.

8:20 am

School had already started by now and at this point, his friends were most definitely worried.

Stiles was interrupted by his thoughts when he heard the door bell ring. He contemplated looking out the window to see who it was, but decided to take a leap of faith and just accept the fact that one of his friends was there to see what was wrong.

He trudged down the stairs and when he finally made it to the bottom, padded the tufts of hair at the back of his head and took a deep breath.

Then all of the sudden, he felt his heart start to beat faster. Part of him had thought it was Scott, but only one person had this effect on him.

Lydia.

She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. He gave her a raise of eyebrows accompanied by a small smile, but knowing Lydia, she wasn’t buying it.

After a few seconds, Parrish emerged from behind her out of nowhere.

Can he, not?

“Hey. What’s up?”

Stiles stiffly acted as if nothing was wrong, but it was pretty obvious that something was since the boy can't avoid sarcasm in practically any setting.

“What do you mean 'What’s up?' You haven’t been answering any of my calls. And I know you saw my messages. You have your read receipts on,” she snapped back nimbly. She then gave him a tight smirk before putting her arms back to her sides.

Her dutiful smile turned to a frown when Stiles didn’t say anything in response.

He looked back at her desperately, hoping she would somehow realize and understand everything that happened with Malia, and that he even saw her and Parrish kiss.

It was as though she did, because she gave him a small concerning look and said, “Well, are you going to invite us in?”

“Sure.”

He turned around and left the door open so they could let themselves in, and walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He wanted to avoid looking at her now, so he wouldn’t give in to those green eyes. He knew from plenty of experience that he most definitely would.

“So, why aren’t you at school Stilinski?” She asked, hopping up on a stool to face him once again.

Stiles was now gulping down the last of a milk carton. He didn’t care if it looked gross. The both of them had accustomed to his antics by now anyways.

“Your dad said you were going to be staying home today, for personal reasons,” Parrish commented, with his polite eyes and masculine stance on the other side of Lydia.

God, why did he have to come too. Stiles liked Parrish. He’s actually a decent guy, just not for Lydia.

“Glad he could clue you in,” Stiles countered sarcastically. He didn’t want to be nice. Parrish was the last person he wanted to talk to right now. Well, not the very last.

“Stiles. What's going on? Did something happen?” Lydia questioned, giving him a look of desperation that made him want to punch himself in the throat.

“Not that it's any of your guys' business-” he scoffed, but regretted what he said almost instantly. Although, the look on her face didn’t appear offended, more amused than anything.

“Huh. Well, if you're not going to tell us what’s wrong, we're just going to have to get it out of you,” she got up off the stool, sauntered around the island and opened the fridge, pulling out a new, unopened gallon of milk. She plucked off the cap and held it up to her lips, taking a swig.

Stiles looked at her, stunned. Was she trying to be funny? Well, it kind of was.

“Lydia, wha-”

“What? I was thirsty,” she raised her eyebrows competitively and then put the cap back on, placing the milk back in the fridge. She looked up at him again as she licked the milk from the top of her lip. He stilled, but regained his composure when he remembered she was waiting for a response.

“I’m- fine, okay?”

She rolled her eyes and stayed quiet for a moment to collect her thoughts.

“Stiles. I know about Donovan. And I knew you had no other choice right when I found out. Like I would trust Theo’s word over yours."

She furrowed her eyebrows ardently when she finished. Then, she tightened her lips before continuing, "But I guess there’s also the fact that when I found out, he had already knocked me unconscious. So, there's a small chance I could have been slightly biased,” she smirked jokingly.

He wanted to apologize for not telling her right after it happened. He wanted to tell her that he knew she would've believed him, but all he could do was look back at her with that same desolate look he'd been giving her since she'd arrived.

Now she was frustrated.

"Stiles, with everything that's been going on, you should have at least called me back. For all I knew, you could have been bleeding to death somewhere! We don't even know where Theo is or what the hell he has planned," she was now crossing her arms over her chest tightly.

Stiles shook his head and snorted indecently, "oh I think I do."

Lydia tossed aside her irritation, now waiting patiently before him to clarify.

"He kissed Malia," Stiles spoke coldly. Then he shrugged in annoyance and turned around, only to twirl back around and add, “Oh, and he also slept with her. They had sex, with each other, willingly, readily, " he quietly added before continuing, "and maybe you shouldn't be critiquing me for answering my phone, Lydia, because I tried to get ahold of you. Not only that, but when you weren't answering, I went to your house and- well, you probably know where this is going," he glanced over to Jordan and looked back at Lydia with a blank expression, only to avoid her stare by pinching the bridge of his nose uncomfortably.

Stiles felt like a douche, laying all of this on them like some complete asshole. He wanted to be mad at Parrish, but he didn't really have a reason to. He wanted to be mad at Lydia for lying about why she didn't answer her phone, but could he really blame her?

He was interrupted by his thoughts when his eyes caught Lydia's mouth opening slightly in shock, followed by a frown as she eased towards me.

“I'm—god. I'm so sorry,” she tried to come closer, but Stiles just stepped back and looked back over at Parrish to see his reaction. The deputies mouth was open too and he looked like he had nothing to say about the revelation, especially the part about him and Lydia.

“Yeah, just when we thought Theo couldn’t go any farther, he did.”

Instead of returning to her surveying eyes, Stiles walked past her and towards his living room, only to plop on the couch with his hands over his face.

He then heard whispering in the kitchen and rolled his eyes. A collection of footsteps came into the living room that soon stopped at his feet, followed by the cushions beneath him shifting, signaling someone had sat down beside him. Lydia.

“Stiles, I’m really sorry.”

“You already said that.”

He sat up now in annoyance, mostly with himself at this point.

He wanted this to all be over. He wanted to go back to Friday night and call Scott to tell him everything, and after that just spend the weekend with his best friend. He wanted to go back to Saturday and answer Lydia's texts from that morning and tell her that he was fine and that he just called to make sure she was home and safe.

The reality was, non of his thoughts were going to take him back to the beginning of that weekend. All he could do was deal with the consequences of wallowing and face it all head on.

He removed his hands from his face, brushing up his hair before resituating his position. Parrish was sitting in a chair on the other side of the coffee table, looking at Stiles as if he was some poor orphan living on the streets.

“Yeah, well I meant it Stiles. I shouldn't have lied to you, about being at the hospital, or about my phone being dead. We all have to stop lying to each other. We have to stop leaving out the truth in general.”

He looked over at her and found that her eyes were boring back deep into his, like she was trying to solve his problems right then and there with her gaze.

“Lydia, it’s fine. I’m just having a hard time right now, okay? And non of this is your fault. I—I want you to be happy.”

Stiles glanced over at Parrish again and forced a genuine smile, and the man instantly returned the favor with a small one.

“Stiles. This— non of this makes me happy. You're not happy. Right now you're pretty much the complete opposite. I should have answered my goddam phone right when you called,” she lectured to herself before looking down at her hands in her lap.

“Ok, no, come on. You just left the hospital, you had stuff going on. And yeah, I did too, but nowhere near as fatal. I should have just texted you back.”

Stiles pursed his lips and looked back up at her with an apologetic smile.

“Come here,” she said, as she opened her arms with an expression exactly like his.

He scooted over to her, rolling his eyes and fell into her embrace, settling his arms around the small of her back. He rested his head softly on her shoulder, holding her a little longer than he should have, but she didn’t seem to mind. He let go and sat back while looking over at Parrish.

“I’m sorry, I was such an ass Parrish. You’re a good guy.”

He gave into the nicer version of himself, the version that was tired of being salty about all of this and gave him a reassuring smile.

“YOU are a good guy Stiles. I’m really sorry too, for everything."

They all looked at each other for a moment in silence, interrupted by a brief chuckle from Stiles for this entire situation.

“Ok, quit the sappy stuff. You still haven't talked to Scott have you? I'm not the only one who was worried about you,” she said, standing up while looking at the two of them curtly.

That's what Stiles was really worried about at this point. With everything going on lately, he didn't need Scott even more worried. Though, Stiles not answering his phone all weekend probably only made his best friend even more stressed than he already was.

“Yeah, I definitely need to do that.”

Stiles got up and followed them out of the house, picking up his backpack by the door before closing it behind him. He directed himself to the backseat of Parrish's truck while Lydia sat with the deputy in the front.

He figured he could handle this, them, for now at least. He still had a lot of recovering to do on his own anyways. If Lydia was happy, he was too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is when the fic originally ended, but I decided to make it longer than the version I sent in to Stydia-Fanfiction on Tumblr. (I've also edited it A LOT since then!)
> 
> I really just want to see where Stiles and Lydia's dynamic goes after these events, and I hope whoever's reading sticks around!
> 
> From here on out, the chapters will be longer. A LOT longer!
> 
> Some insane Stydia to come in the next part of this series!


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